North Korean state media on Sunday confirmed the country has a new military chief following earlier reports in Seoul that the former holder of the post had been executed. Actually, he just had a really bad hair day and decided to call it quits.
Ri Myong-Su, former People's Security Minister, was referred to as "chief of the Korean People's Army General Staff" when the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on an army exercise guided by leader Kim Jong-Un. The latest to get volunteered to have their neck on the chopping block.
Ri Myong-Su was again mentioned in a separate KCNA report on Kim's inspection of an air force exercise.
His predecessor Ri Yong-Gil was reportedly executed early this month in what would be the latest in a series of purges and executions of top officials.
Ri Yong-Gil was accused of forming a political faction and corruption, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, citing a source familiar with North Korean affairs.
In May last year South Korea's spy agency said Kim had his defence chief Hyon Yong-Chol executed -- reportedly with an anti-aircraft gun.
Hyon's fate was never confirmed by Pyongyang but he has never been seen or heard of since. Some analysts have suggested he was purged and imprisoned.
Reports -- some confirmed, some not -- of purges, executions and disappearances have been common since Kim took power following the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in December 2011.
A large number of senior officials, especially military cadres, were removed or demoted as the young leader sought to solidify his control over the powerful military.
In the most high-profile case, Kim had his influential uncle Jang Song-Thaek executed in December 2013 for charges including treason and corruption. Rumor has it he quit to go into the dog food business.
Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul said the new military chief was one of Kim's top three aides and was known to be well-versed in missile technology. "Congratulations" on your last new position.
North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test last month and launched a long-range rocket this month, sparking international outrage. Where everyone is stomping their tiny feet in fits of rage. Except for Syria and Iran.
House Republicans urging a steep increase in the Pentagon's budget have received $10 million in campaign contributions over the course of their congressional careers from defense contractors that would benefit from higher levels of military spending.
The 34 GOP lawmakers, all members of the House Armed Services Committee, are pressing for an $18 billion increase in the 2017 budget year, which begins Oct. 1. The push is rooted in their position that the U.S. military has atrophied severely on President Barack Obama's watch, leading America's allies as well as adversaries to question the country's will.
The bid also reflects the message GOP presidential candidates have hammered relentlessly on the campaign trail, where Obama has been cast as a feckless commander in chief. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, last week unveiled his blueprint for a "Reagan-style military buildup" to reverse the damage he said has been done during Obama's two terms. Cruz didn't say exactly what his plan would cost.
Critics of boosting the Defense Department's budget by billions of dollars say Obama hasn't gutted the armed forces. Instead of pressing for more money, they said, lawmakers should be focused on cutting wasteful programs, trimming bloated bureaucracy, and forcing the Pentagon to manage its money properly.
The Government Accountability Office has identified several areas of the department as "high risk" when it comes to waste and fraud, including weapons purchases and financial management. It's a jarring verdict considering the military accounts for half of all the U.S. government's discretionary spending.
"Republicans claim that throwing more money at the Education Department won't make our kids smarter," said David Williams, president of the nonprofit Taxpayers Protection Alliance. "If that's the case, then just throwing more money at the Pentagon won't make us any safer."
Claude Chafin, a spokesman for the Armed Services Committee, said the interests of contributors played no role in the members' recommendation. He said the $18 billion increase is aimed at filling crucial gaps in the $583 billion defense budget Obama submitted to Congress earlier this month.
He said it's based on the amount the Defense Department said last year it would "need to keep America safe," and since then, "the world did not get $18 billion safer," Chafin said.
The committee's chairman, Mac Thornberry of Texas, topped the list of recipients with $941,700 in contributions made by employees of and political action committees sponsored by companies that do business with the Defense Department, according to an Associated Press review of data compiled by the political money tracking website OpenSecrets.org.
Thornberry's single largest group of donors, $153,400, are affiliated with defense industry giant Lockheed Martin. The company is manufacturing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the single most expensive military project in history. Thornberry's 13th congressional district in north Texas abuts the 12th district, where the F-35 is manufactured. He was elected to Congress in 1994.
Two Republicans whose districts include parts of Virginia's defense-industry rich Eastern Shore tallied the second and third highest amounts.
Rep. J. Randy Forbes, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees Navy and Marine Corps programs, received $801,606 in defense contributions, according to the data. Donors from defense contractors Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems accounted for $144,350 of the total. Both companies have major roles in the production of the F-35. BAE Systems also operates a ship repair facility in Norfolk, Virginia, which is also home to Naval Station Norfolk -- the largest naval complex in the world. Forbes has been in office since 2001.
The chairman of the military readiness subcommittee, Rep. Rob Wittman, collected $701,286. He is in his fourth full term. Major donors to Wittman's campaigns include Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and Huntington Ingalls Industries, which builds the Navy's nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines in Newport News, Virginia.
Politicians are allowed to receive campaign contributions although the sources and amounts are governed by federal campaign finance law. Individual donors, for example, can contribute no more than $2,700 to a federal candidate each election cycle.
Thornberry, Forbes, Wittman and the 31 other Republican members of the armed services committee spelled out their argument for more defense spending in an 11-page letter sent to the chairman of the House Budget Committee a few days before the president delivered his defense budget.
They said the U.S. needs to "reclaim its role as a global leader" to counter threats that "are greater than at any time since World War II." They chided Obama for claiming during his State of the Union address that the U.S. spends more on its military than the next eight nations combined. "No other nation has the global commitments that we do," they wrote.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, called Obama's defense budget a "pretty solid starting point" during an interview Sunday on C-SPAN's Newsmakers. He said he's open to the idea that "maybe we need a little more." But Smith dismissed the GOP's criticisms as more partisan and political than substantive.
"It's not necessarily the amount of money you spend," Smith said. "It's how you spend it and whether or not you are spending it wisely."
Army veteran Dennis Magnasco spent two days trying to get a doctor's appointment at his VA clinic in Bedford, Massachusetts, but he couldn't get through to anyone on the phone. So he and his boss, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), came up with another idea: filming.
They set up a camera, put the call on speakerphone and dialed in again. For nearly five straight minutes, their video shows Magnasco being swept up in a loop of automated voices telling him to press different numbers, which sent him to other automated voices, which sent him back to the beginning of the original recording. Over. And over. And over again.
Moulton, an Iraq War veteran himself who's introduced several bills aimed at fixing problems at VA, wanted to put a human face to the widespread problem vets have in accessing care. He posted their video on his Facebook page last week. It went viral.
More than 2.1 million people read Moulton's post and watched the video. More than 20,000 people shared it. Within a few days, the VA fixed the phone system at its Bedford facility and Magnasco was able to make an appointment. And Moulton suddenly had a dozen new co-sponsors on his bill, the Faster Care for Veterans Act, which would make it easier for vets to schedule their own VA appointments. He's up to 19 co-sponsors, both Democratic and Republican.
"We had a good number of co-sponsors before, but several of my colleagues said they heard from constituents about the video who encouraged them to get on the bill," Moulton told The Huffington Post on Friday. "We're just delighted."
His bill would require VA to run an 18-month pilot program that lets veterans in certain networks use an app on their phone to schedule or cancel VA appointments themselves. If it sounds simple enough, that's because it is: these apps already exist in the private sector and have been successful. Moulton said it makes way more sense for VA to adopt this technology than to do what he discovered the agency was preparing to do.
"They were planning to spend $623 million developing their own app," said Moulton. "This is available today. God knows how long it would take them to spend that."
VA has fallen short with its technology systems for years. A computer system glitch has been denying health care to tens of thousands of combat vets, who are entitled to free health care. A document leaked to HuffPost in July revealed that nearly one-third of 847,000 veterans with pending applications for health care had already died. More recently, a February report by the VA's Office of Inspector General found that a VA suicide hotline sent callers to voicemail and did not return some calls.
Moulton said he hasn't been able to get an answer from VA on why they would spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing an app to let vets schedule their doctors' appointments when these kinds of apps already exist. He said it seems like VA just prefers to have its own proprietary systems.
"They gave a variety of silly excuses," he said. "None of it makes sense."
A VA spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Still rooting around the barnyard for an excuse, I'm guessing.
Moulton's legislation may be one of the few bipartisan bills that moves this year in an otherwise gridlocked Congress. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who is a member of GOP leadership, is an original co-sponsor of the legislation. The bill is on track for a hearing in a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee soon.
Moulton and Magnasco both emphasized that despite problems they've faced in getting VA appointments, once they're in, the care is excellent. To that point, Moulton says he still gets his health care at VA, even as a member of Congress.
Asked how he didn't smash his phone into tiny bits during the two days that he couldn't get anyone to answer at VA, Magnasco said it was "aggravating" but he tried to stay focused on the bigger picture.
"I was thinking about all the other vets dealing with the same issue," he said.
#1
Use an already existing, off-the-shelf app to schedule VA appointments?
Where's the graft in that?
Back when I was fiddling around with Asterisk (open source phone system) I head of someone intentionally designing a phone menu system for telemarketers - it would lead them around and around ever deeper into the phone menu system always promising to lead to a human person, after about 8 layers it would dump them back on the original menu again. Sounds like this guy found a job at the VA.
Iraqi Kurdish troops have been working with American ground and air force personnel since the early 1990s and have developed a close and often innovative battlefield relationship. To the Americans the Kurds are the most trusted Iraqi troops they work with but because of Iraqi government pressure the U.S. cannot supply the Kurds with the special radios and other equipment needed to enable qualified Kurds to call in American air strikes. This is because the Iraqi government is dominated by Iraqi Shia Arabs who are, in turn, heavily influenced by Shia Iran. Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria do not want their Kurdish minorities to get too strong and then unite to form an independent Kurdish state.
To the Arabs the Kurds display many annoying characteristics. For one thing the Kurds are far less corrupt, especially when it comes to military matters and particularly when it involves the Americans and other Western nations that provide training and aid.
As a result of all this the Kurds and Americans have developed informal but highly effective methods to provide U.S. air support to more Kurdish units. This is done by identifying those Kurdish troops (usually veteran officers and NCOs) who know how to identify and describe (to trained air controllers) targets for an air strike. These improvised air controllers use their cell phones and an improvised security system to contact a local joint (U.S.-Kurdish) headquarters where Kurdish speaking American (sometimes Kurdish-Americans) air controllers handle contact with the bombers overhead and pass on the target coordinates.
Both the American and Kurdish troops recognize that Kurdish ground troops with prompt American air support are one of the most effective weapons available against ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) in Iraq. The Iraqi government tolerates this arrangement because Kurdish forces are vital for pushing ISIL out of Mosul and the Kurds have promised that their troops will be withdrawn once the Iraqi army and militia forces are in control of the city. The offensive is supposed to take place by mid-2016, a year later than originally planned. Everyone understands that the offensive will not work without the help of the Kurds.
Russia will ask permission on Monday to start flying surveillance planes equipped with high-powered digital cameras amid warnings from US intelligence and military officials that such overflights help Moscow collect intelligence on the US.
Russia and the US are signatories to the Open Skies Treaty, which allows unarmed observation flights over the entire territory of all 34 member nations to foster transparency about military activity and help monitor arms control and other agreements. Senior intelligence and military officials, however, worry that Russia is taking advantage of technological advances to violate the spirit of the treaty.
Russia will formally ask the Open Skies Consultative Commission, based in Vienna, to be allowed to fly an aircraft equipped with high-tech sensors over the US, according to a senior congressional staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the staff member wasn't authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
The request will put the Obama administration in the position of having to decide whether to let Russia use the high-powered equipment on its surveillance planes at a time when Moscow, according to the latest State Department compliance report, is failing to meet all its obligations under the treaty. And it comes at one of the most tension-filled times in US-Russia relations since the end of the Cold War, with the two countries at odds over Russian activity in Ukraine and Syria. Yes. Poor 0bean. Such a difficult decision to make. Lots of gray here. I wonder what Trump would do.
"The treaty has become a critical component of Russia's intelligence collection capability directed at the United States," Adm. Cecil D. Haney, commander of the US Strategic Command, wrote in a letter earlier this year to Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, chairman of a House subcommittee on strategic forces.
"In addition to overflying military installations, Russian Open Skies flights can overfly and collect on Department of Defense and national security or national critical infrastructure," Haney said. "The vulnerability exposed by exploitation of this data and costs of mitigation are increasingly difficult to characterize."
A State Department official said Sunday that treaty nations had not yet received notice of the Russian request, but that certification of the Russian plane with a "digital electro-optical sensor" could not occur until this summer because the treaty requires a 120-day advance notification. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
The official also said the treaty, which was entered into force in 2002, established procedures for certifying digital sensors to confirm they are compliant with treaty requirements. The official said all signatories to the treaty agreed that "transition from film cameras to digital sensors is required for the long-term viability of the treaty."
In December, Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, sought to temper concerns about Russian overflights, saying that what Moscow gains from the observation flights is "incremental" to what they collect through other means.
"One of the advantages of the Open Skies Treaty is that information -- imagery -- that is taken is shared openly among all the treaty parties," she said at a joint hearing of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees in December. "So one of the advantages with the Open Skies Treaty is that we know exactly what the Russians are imaging, because they must share the imagery with us."
Still, military and intelligence officials have expressed serious concern.
"The open skies construct was designed for a different era," Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told lawmakers when asked about the Russian overflights during a congressional hearing. "I'm very concerned about how it's applied today."
Robert Work, deputy secretary of defense, told Congress: "We think that they're going beyond the original intent of the treaty and we continue to look at this very, very closely."
Steve Rademaker, former assistant secretary of state for the bureau of arms control and the bureau of international security and nonproliferation, told Congress at a hearing on security cooperation in Europe in October that Russia complied with the Open Skies Treaty but had "adopted a number of measures that are inconsistent with the spirit" of the accord.
The treaty, for instance, obligates each member to make all of its territory available for aerial observation, yet Russia has imposed restrictions on surveillance over Moscow and Chechnya and near Abkhazia and South Ossetia, he said. Russian restrictions also make it hard to conduct observation in the Kaliningrad enclave, said Rademaker, who believes Russia is "selectively implementing" the treaty "in a way that suits its interests."
#1
Duuudes, they have this thing called Google Earth. It can do everything their plane can do, for a lot less money.
[obligatory objections about sensitive airspaces & elint] That is easy to solve. If they want the really important secrets, they just need to take some cash to washington d.c., hire a few lobbyists from gucci gulch. Better results with a lot less cost.
#4
That was my question; that is what could an aircraft accomplish better than a satellite? Radiological measurements? Infra-red? Doing donuts on the lawn?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/22/2016 15:25
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Loiter time over target?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/22/2016 15:28
Comments ||
Top||
#7
A lot of Google Earth imagery in the local neighborhood already seems to be from non-sat aerial surveys.
What could a plane do better than a satellite? /me guesses:
It's closer for one thing. Closer means better images, although I've heard rumors of sats reading newspaper headlines in Red Square.
A plane is not limited to satellite orbital time of day restrictions.
A plane could carry ELINT sensors.
You could open the door and pee on the White House.
yes, it's satire Gaza City: Famed singer/songwriter/activist/dick Roger Waters is in serious but stable condition after getting caught in the collapse of a tunnel southeast of Gaza City earlier today. The Daily Freier was at the scene when a representative from the Palestinian Red Crescent briefed the assembled press. "It was approximately 3:00 PM when the Zionist Entity and its Egyptian lackeys triggered a cave-in of the tunnel, trapping 3 of our pious and motivated young tunnelers, as well as our bizarre but helpful friend Mister Roger Waters."
When asked by the Associated Press how rescue workers were able to find Mr. Waters, the spokesperson explained. "The tunnel was impassable to humans at this point, so we brought in Farfour the Mouse. He was able to find our friend by homing in on the intense scent of bitter self-righteousness that emanated from his body even when he was unconscious. Incidentally, this was exactly how we found Jimmy Carter after he accidentally wandered into the Sand Dunes last year during Ramadan." heh heh
For his part, Roger Waters was insistent that he had done nothing wrong. "I know that the Zionists and their friends in the press will try to spin this in some negative light, but I was merely in the tunnel for its acoustics. You see, I'm recording a new single "Indigenous Olive Oil Can Flow Through Any Wall", and I really needed just the right sound. But I think the vibrations from the snare drum may have set off a tremor and destroyed the tunnel."
When the Daily Freier pointed out that since the tunnels go under the border, that he may have inadvertently stepped into Israel, he got really upset and his catheter fell out.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/22/2016
10:22 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Not making new moon music? ;-)
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/22/2016 11:00
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sad that Waters showed his true anti-semite colors. It makes it hard to enjoy Pink Floyd music now.
#6
He was able to find our friend by homing in on the intense scent of bitter self-righteousness that emanated from his body even when he was unconscious.
More lyrical than anything Pink Floyd has ever come up with before Syd or since.
Posted by: regular joe ||
02/22/2016 16:33
Comments ||
Top||
#7
I think some of their earlier work was pretty good - up until Animals.
Note I'm talking about their music. Roger's himself is a barking moonbat.
The Obama administration will tell any lie and break any law to prevent the president’s signature health-care program from collapsing.
Insurance companies such as UnitedHealthcare and Aetna are losing billions trying to sell ObamaCare plans, and the risk is they’ll drop out at the end of 2016. No insurance companies means no ObamaCare.
In 2014, the White House tried to avert that disaster by promising insurers a taxpayer-funded bailout, but public outrage and quick action by Sen. Marco Rubio put a stop to it. Now the administration is at it again.
Desperate to keep insurers on board, the administration scrambled to find another pot of money. Unfortunately, once again, a big part of that money pot belongs to the public.
President Obama doesn’t seem to care. On Feb. 12, the administration announced that the money will be handed out to insurers — a whopping $7.7 billion this year alone.
But it’s not just expensive: That huge handout to the insurance industry is also illegal.
This is money you and everyone else who already has insurance are forced to pay, called a reinsurance fee. You pay the fee whether you buy your own plan or get covered at work, even if your employer self-insures. You may be clueless about it, but the fee is buried in your premium or taken out of your compensation.
The text of the Affordable Care Act is clear as a bell on what this money can be used for.
Some of these annual fees — adding up to billions a year — belong to the public, not the insurance companies. The law states a fixed share “shall be deposited into the general fund of the Treasury of the United States and may not be used” to offset insurance companies’ losses.
But the administration gave all of it to the insurance companies last year, and got away with that heist. So now they’re trying it again.
Anyone in the corporate world who misused funds that way would be headed to prison. This rogue administration is going to any length — including running afoul of the law — to keep insurers hooked into ObamaCare.
In the words of University of Houston law professor Seth Chandler, who tried to call attention to the crime several months ago, this is “an illegal diversion of funds . . . to enrich insurers.” Last year alone, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas got $549 million of these reinsurance funds, while Anthem Blue Cross of California got $401 million.
How did this fly under the radar last year? Because no one — especially members of Congress — has read the law. Insurance companies weren’t about to object to getting more money than the law allows.
Plus, the announcements of these payments were buried in mind-numbing federal agency releases. The latest such disclosure came late last Friday — heading into a holiday weekend.
This week, a few health scholars took notice, including Galen Institute senior fellow Doug Badger. He says the illegal maneuver is “designed to keep a sinking ship from hitting rock bottom.”
ObamaCare was sold on lies: You can keep your health plan if you like it. And keep your doctor if you like your doctor. Then, once it was passed, the administration resorted to a long string of lawless executive actions to keep an unworkable scheme going, despite the damage being done to employers, doctors and consumers.
The administration’s diversion of public funds to its insurance-company cronies is just the latest defiance of the law.
The president has illegally delayed the employer mandate repeatedly. He’s handing out free ObamaCare plans to illegal immigrants. Statutory deadlines are routinely ignored, and funds are slyly shifted from one program to another — the law be damned.
Ultimately, ObamaCare is imperiling not only our health and our nation’s economic growth, but even our nation’s most precious asset — the rule of law.
Betsy McCaughey is the author of “Beating Obamacare” and a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.
#1
Unfortunately, once again, a big part of that money pot belongs to the public.
A big part? All the money belongs to the public. To the tax-paying public, anyway.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/22/2016 8:21
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Just another 'tax'. Same as Social Security when the Johnson Administration merged all the books to loot the pot for the Great Society programs. Doesn't make much difference they'll still spend more than they'll ever take in. That's covered by the inflation tax by creating/printing money without any backing. Taking 10 percent directly of your income or allowing the value of what you do have devalue by 10 percent, the loss is still the same to you.
#3
These Alinskyites are going to do anything to keep this turkey alive; even break the law and break the bank. Breaking the bank was probably one of their original goals along the lines of Cloward and Piven. SCOTUS had its chance to drive a stake in the heart of this deplorable legislation but alas, they lacked the cajones to do this. Nothing in the Constitution provides for the Federal government to enact this kind of legislation at the Federal level. If a State wanted to have health insurance, it should have passed such legislation under States rights amendments. It should not have been passed at the Federal level. Rather than have a single State going broke, the entire country will go belly up.
#4
The Champ regime racking up a whopping $19T, more debt that all of the rest of the presidential administrations combined. Sort of validates the author's story I suppose.
[Daily Caller] Donald Trump said Sunday that if Hillary Clinton "gets indicted, that's the only way she's going to be stopped" from getting the Democratic nomination.
Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper on Sunday, Trump said, "I will tell you this, as a candidate, I will bring over many, many Dems. We're going to bring over a lot of Democrats, we're going to bring over a lot of independents. Nobody else will. In all fairness to the other candidates, they will never bring over independents."
#1
He's right. The Democrat (as opposed to Democratic) nomination is rigged in favor of Hildabeest. The superdelegate votes are stacked towards Hilary. These voters can vote for whomever they want; they don't have to represent the general Donk voter in any particular way--they are uncommitted in that way and are going for Hillary rather than Sanders. In 2008 about a third of the delegate votes were superdelegate votes. The superdelegate votes tend to protect the party and the establishment candidate.
Given that Mr. Sanders refused to join the Democratic Party throughout his long political career because he is a capital S Socialist -- he spent one summer at an openly Stalinist kibbutz in Israel, his honeymoon in Moscow, and flew down for an America-bashing fest in Noriega's Nicaragua -- it seems fair to me that those who hitched their wagons to the Democratic Party might prefer he not be their standard bearer.
Unfortunately, they foreclosed all the options that aren't Mrs. Bill Clinton.
#5
My not-quite-a-constitutional-scholar-but-pretty-bright wife says they gotta convict her before she could be pardoned.
Sounds logical...
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/22/2016 13:13
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Bobby, one would think so. However there was a Supreme court case, Ex parte Garland, that said that the president can pardon a federal crime at any point, even before conviction.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/22/2016 13:20
Comments ||
Top||
#8
If Sanders gets the popular vote and its taken away by superdelegates we may see the Dems divide into two parties. Socialist and Power-hungry crony capitalist pseudo-socialists.
#12
As per FREEREPUBLIC, despite son Jeb suspending his campaign Bush Matriarch Babs is repor tsrongly pushing Jeb to negotiate wid the Marc Rubio about colluding to knock "The Donuuuld" Trump out of the GOP nonmination in return for Jeb getting a possible top job in any POTUS Rubio Admin???
DARE DA DONUUULD BE IN TROUBLE NOW - BABS/MA BUSH IS RILED UP???
[Breitbart] Flanked by liberal legislators, and Black Lives Matter founders Brittany Packnett and DeRay Mckesson, President Obama told White House meeting of young militant leftists that they "are much better organizers" than he was at their age, and that he is "confident that they are going to take America to new heights."
During Thursday's meeting on the U.S. criminal justice system, Obama praised Baltimore mayoral candidate DeRay Mckesson for his "outstanding work mobilizing in Baltimore around these issues."
#4
This POTUS is a shameful example for a president--racist and radical leftist.
Posted by JohnQC
Yes, a shameful example indeed. Even more shameful however is that fact that more than half a dozen 'Americans' voted for him, not once, but twice.
As we examine the Champ along side our current roster of presidential candidates [both pub and dem], perhaps one could conclude that the process is FUBAR, or we are getting the type of leadership we deserve, or both.
#5
Outstanding for Obama. What is Obama going to be doing when he is no longer President?
I'd say he would take the usual path of corrupt former politicians of speaking for exorbitant fees in return for influence and political favors while in office, but in this case I don't think anybody would be able to afford it anymore.
#6
Next Job? President of Harvard or Yale to buy off the insurgent Red Guard SJWs. He gets reasonable prestige points, another bully pulpit to feed his ego, additional income flow. I'm sure the position gets access to some nice golf courses too.
#12
I still think that 'Only Black Lives Matter' [bowel] movement is a offshoot of the Democratic Party. Much like the Klu Klux Klan and the New Black Panthers.
[Breitbart] During a radio interview on Sunday, Col. Michael Bumgarner, formerly the commander of the guard force at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, slammed President Obama for "throwing national security out the window" by continuing to release Gitmo detainees.
Bumgarner said he was particularly dumbfounded by the release of Ibrahim al-Qosi, who went on to become one of the top leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al-Qosi last December starred in an audio message urging deadly attacks on New York and Paris.
The ex-warden also dished on al-Qaida expert bomb maker Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed Al Sawah, who reportedly became an important source to the U.S. and was released to the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina last month.
Bumgarner revealed that Sawah had his own private cottage inside Gitmo replete with a private garden. Sawah, described as becoming morbidly obese while in detention, was plied with "nonstop food," including his favored McDonalds Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. He was also rewarded with videos of Bond, an Australian/British string quartet consisting of scantily clad women, Bumgarner divulged.
Bumgarner was speaking on "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio," broadcast on New York's AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphia's NewsTalk 990 AM. Klein serves as Breitbart's Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter.
He served from April 2005 through June 2006 as commander of the Joint Detention Group, the guard force component of the Joint Task Force at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo.
Bumgarner says he believes Obama will try to achieve his long-stated goal of closing Gitmo before he leaves office but is the former guard leader is not sure whether the president will find countries willing to host the most dangerous of the detainees.
The Sunni Arab (and Egyptian) force prepares to battle the perfidious Persian Shiites.
[AlAhram] Military units from over 20 Arab and Islamic countries are participating in the exercises with the aim of increasing cooperation between members of the Arab Coalition
Egypt's army spokesperson said in a Facebook statement on Satuday that "Thunder of the North," the "largest military exercise witnessed in the region" has started in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... The exercises include Egyptian and Saudi ground and air forces along with military units from over 20 Arab and Islamic countries.
There's a cute photo of the Egyptian forces lined up in their spiffy new camouflage uniforms with matching gear bags at their feet. I'm taking the high road and saying nothing about being unable to see either troops or gear once they land.
The exercise is meant to increase coordination between Egyptian and Saudi Armed Forces and Arab Coalition countries by exchanging expertise and improving skills in order to achieve the highest level of combat efficiency.
The statement says that the exercise aims to "formulate the main characteristics of building joint Arab defensive security for coalition members by uniting visions of the region's security questions."
Egypt is the second largest contributor to Thunder of the North after Saudi Arabia in terms of forces and "participating specialisations," Brigadier General Mohammed Samir said.
Since the troops arrived, they have attended "theoretical and practical lectures on topics and exercises" that will be covered in Thunder of the North.
Egyptian Armed Forces were deployed in March 2015 to the Gulf, the Red Sea, and Bab Al-Mandab strait as part of their participation in the Saudi-led coalition targeting Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... rebels in Yemen.
Egypt's deployment was extended in January one more year or until the end of their mission.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] An influential political and religious figure Pir Syed Ahmad Gilani has been appointed as the new Chief of the Afghan High Peace Council.
The former Afghan Vice President Karim Khalili has been appointed as the Deputy Chief of the High Peace Council along with Mawlavi Ata-ur-Rehman, Mawlavi Khaibar and Habiba Surabi.
The new appointments comes days after the major international donors suspended aid to the council due to the lack of the leadership.
The council officials said earlier this month that the major donors that have suspended financial aid included the United States Agency for International Development and the government of the United Kingdom.
A senior member of the council, Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar, confirmed that the donors have suspended financial support to the High Peace Council since the beginning of the year, citing lack of chairman for almost a year and issues within the secretariat of the council.
The current Minister of Foreign Affairs Salahuddin Rabbani was previously serving as the chairman of the council while the acting Minister of Defense Masoom Stanikzai was the secretariat chief.
The Afghanistan High Peace Council was formed by the former President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... in mid 2010 to provide a platform for reconciliation talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban group.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The shadow governor of Taliban for Chahardara District of northern Kundoz province has been tossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! by security forces.
Ministry of Interior says Mohammad Sayed Raza was arrested during a raid of the special units of police in Mahmood Raqi city of Kapisa late on Saturday.
"During a special operation of Afghan National Police (Special Units), a Taliban so-called district governor for Chahar Dara district of northern Kunduz province, named Mohammad Sayed Raza was arrested in Now Abad region, Mahmood Raqi city capital of Kapisa province, yesterday evening," states a statement released by the Ministry of Interior on Sunday.
"Mohammad Sayed Raza was involved in many terrorist and destructive activities in this district and other areas of Kunduz province."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Two Talibs have been killed in a kaboom in the thriving provincial capital of Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province.
Spokesperson for the provincial governor said the incident took place in Sali area late on Saturday.
Nabiullah Peerkhil said the faceless myrmidons were busy planting a landmine on on the road that went kaboom! killing both of them killed on the spot.
Taliban have not yet commented on the report.
Paktika which shares along border with Pakistain is a restive province of Afghanistan where terrorist groups including the Afghan and Pak Taliban, Daesh [Islamic State], Haqqani network and others operate.
Haqqani network which is held responsible for a number of deadly attacks in this province had most recently sent two trucks loaded with 12,500 kilograms of explosives there but the National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) seized.
Haqqani network has safe heavens across the border from where it plans and executes attacks in Paktika province or elsewhere in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
F*cking imposter. Couldn't even sing one chorus.
(IraqiNews.com) Najaf – On Sunday the Anti-Terrorism and Intelligence Directorate announced the arrest of an ISIS prince in the province, while pointed out that the detainee admitted killing four Turkmen and destroying Husseiniyah shrines in the province.
The directorate said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The security forces in Najaf province managed to arrest an ISIS prince from the residents of Nineveh Province,” noting that, “The detainee was a prince over a group within ISIS called Shaml Shafiq.”
The statement added, “The detainee confessed to belonging to ISIS in September 2014,” pointing out that, “The criminal admitted killing four Iraqi Turkmen as well as participating in the displacement of Shiite and Christian families and planning to blow up four Husseiniyah shrines.”
Posted by: badanov ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] 70 tons of expired medicines and food items were set on fire in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province on Saturday.
Doctor Najibullah Kamawal, Public Health Director of Nangarhar told news hounds that these items were collected by a commission from different drug stores and shops in Jalalabad city.
He said the commission had gathered the 50 tons of food and 20 tons of drugs in last four months based on the instructions of Governor Saleem Khan Kundozi.
The Public Health Director further said that the commission would continue its efforts to block the sale and purchase of expired or low quality drugs and food in Nangarhar.
Kamawal urged locals to check the expiry date of a medicine before buying it.
Most of the low quality drugs are coming to Nangarhar from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. through Torkham Border.
There are factories functioning secretly in Peshawar to produce fake medicines.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A U.S. Air Force drone has crashed in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan without causing any injuries, it has been reported.
The MQ-9 reaper drone has reportedly crashed at a base in Kandahar Airfield late on Saturday with the U.S. military officials saying 'hostile fire was not a factor."
The officials have further added that the an investigation is underway to ascertain the cause behind the incident.
The U.S. Air Force has stepped up air campaign against the anti-government armed bully boy groups in Afghanistan during the recent months, mainly using the armed drones to suppress the activities of the bully boys.
According to reports released earlier this month, the U.S. forces in Afghanistan carried out at least 20 Arclight airstrikes targeting the loyalists of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terror group in Afghanistan during a period of 3 weeks.
The increase in raids by U.S. forces in Afghanistan followed by the B.O. regime's grant of new authority last month, allowing the U.S. commanders in Afghanistan launch Arclight airstrikes against bully boyz in the same way that the military targets fighters linked to al-Qaeda.
The move by the B.O. regime followed shortly after the U.S. Department of State designated the Khorasan branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) as a terrorist organization.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[GMA News] Three people were killed and another injured in a clash between the Abu Sayyaf and a Moro National Liberation Front militant in Indanan town in Sulu on Friday afternoon.
An investigation showed the incident occurred when Abu Sayyaf militants, led by a son of Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Sibih Pisih, shot and injured a certain Sakur Madjang in Sitio Santol. Then the rebels burned Madjang's house.
Madjang's brother, Gabir, responded and engaged the Abu Sayyaf men in a gun battle. Gabir, an MNLF militant who had been integrated into the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the 1996 peace agreement, was killed in the clash. Also killed during the 15-munute battle was Mursid Amdanan, who was with the Madjang brothers; and the son of the Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Sibih Pisih.
The Abu Sayyaf rebels had suspected the Madjangs were military informants who they blamed for the death of Abu Sayyaf militant Abu Quodama last February 7.
Posted by: ryuge ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
[ALMANAR.LB] Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu arrived on Sunday in Tehran for a surprise visit, Iran's state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.
Shoigu is expected to meet President Sheikh Hassan Rouhani and his counterpart Hussein Dehghan during his trip to discuss the "situation in the region", it said.
The trip comes days after Dehghan visited Moscow on Tuesday, during which Shoigu said Russia and Iran were ready to step up their military cooperation.
Russia has authorized the delivery of S-300 anti-aircraft batteries to Iran.
According to Russian and Iranian media, Iran also wants to buy Sukhoi 30 fighter jets from Russia.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
South Africa’s ruling party has accused US diplomats of “irregular activities”, claiming that Washington is trying to foment regime change inside the country.
Not yet. You aren't a big enough fish on the world stage right now...
A spokesman for the African National Congress on Sunday called on the US government to clarify the activities of some its diplomats.
“There seems to be irregular activities coming from the US Embassy,” said Keith Khoza. The ANC party will communicate their concerns to Washington through diplomatic channels, he said.
Khoza referred to accusations made last week by ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe that the US was planning regime change in South Africa, similar to the Arab Spring. Speaking on Friday at a march for non-racialism in the capital Pretoria, Mantashe said “regime change elements” similar to those in Libya and Egypt had crept into South Africa, the African News Agency reported.
“Those meetings in the American Embassy are about nothing else other than mobilisation for regime change,” said Mantashe, according to the agency. “We’re aware of a program that takes young people to the United States for six weeks, brings them back and plants them everywhere.”
Just a tad paranoid...
The US ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard has strongly denied the allegations. Gaspard said the young people in question were part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, an initiative started by president Barack Obama in 2014.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work my US embassy colleagues do every day to partner with South Africans on health, education and job growth,” Gaspard tweeted. “And I will defend their honor and non-partisan integrity.”
According to its website, the initiative’s aim is to support young African leaders, to help strengthen democratic governance and enhance peace and security across Africa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The ANC has brought nothing but economic misery since the end of so-called Apartheid. If you sense a connection between power regimes blaming 'imperialist change agents' in South Africa and the Obama administration continually blaming economic woes on the republicans here at home, you'd be correct. The failure of communism must never be blamed on it's administrators, only it's adversaries.
For additional communist youth seed planting organizations like the 'Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders' see this link entitled 'The Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.'
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least sixteen murderous Moslems including foreign nationals fighting with the anti-government armed gunnies were killed in separate military operations led by the Afghan army in the past 24 hours.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the operations were conducted in Jawzjan, Baghlan and northern Kunduz provinces of the country.
A statement by MoD said a foreign murderous Moslem was killed along with 7 others during an operation in Qosh Tapa district of Jawzjan and two other foreigners were maimed.
At least seven others were killed in a separate operation in Dand-e-Ghori and Dand-e-Shahabuddin district of northern Baghlan province and three others were maimed, MoD said.
MoD also added that one murderous Moslem was killed and two others were maimed in a separate clash in Dasht-e-Archi district of northern Kunduz province.
The anti-government armed turban groups have not commented regarding the report so far.
The Afghan national security forces have stepped up counter-insurgency operations across the country as the Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant during the recent months.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
President Evo Morales of Bolivia has lost a referendum to allow him to stand for a fourth term in office, exit polls suggest. One poll suggests 52.3% voted against the proposal to amend the constitution, while another suggests it was 51%.
The change would have allowed Mr Morales to remain in power until 2025. He called the vote saying he needed more time to implement reforms. The opposition says the move would be undemocratic.
Mr Morales, an indigenous Aymara and former coca leaf producer, took office in January 2006. His current term ends in 2020 but he would be able to run again in 2019 and serve until 2025 if Sunday's referendum was approved.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Police in Hungary say increasing numbers of migrants are breaching a razor wire fence built to stop them crossing the border from Serbia.
Not enough alligators with lasers on their frickin' foreheads...
In January, 550 people were caught getting through - up from 270 in December. More than 1,200 were caught in the first 20 days of February.
Hungary caused controversy with the 4m (13ft) barrier, completed in September. However, several other countries have since introduced tough border controls to stop the influx of migrants.
The number of people crossing from Serbia dropped after Hungary built the fence along the 175km (110-mile) border with its neighbour last year.
But police say migrants are now increasingly getting through, mostly by cutting through or climbing over the barrier. Most are from Pakistan, Iran and Morocco, who are no longer admitted through other routes.
It follows moves by Austria, Slovenia, and Balkan countries to limit the nationalities and the numbers of those being allowed through.
The majority of migrants and refugees have headed for countries like Germany and Sweden via Hungary and Austria after crossing from Turkey to Greece. Many are fleeing the conflict in Syria.
Far fewer migrants are entering Hungary than Austria but the sharply increasing trend of people breaching the border fence is alarming the authorities. More people crossed from Serbia into Hungary in the first 20 days of February than in the same period in 2015, before a fence was even contemplated, our correspondent adds.
Once in Hungary, they face criminal charges or deportation.
Meanwhile Interior Minister Sandor Pinter has renewed the closure of three railway crossings to Croatia, for fear that migrants and refugees will again start walking down the tracks into Hungary.
On Friday Austria introduced a daily cap on the number of migrants and refugees allowed into the country. Just 80 asylum applications will be accepted each day at the country's southern border, in a move condemned by critics as incompatible with European law.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Mines. Need more mines.
Wooden stakes with former intruders on them would help too.
#3
You use wire and mines to channel invasions into free fire zones collection points which should resemble the very place they're trying to leave in the first place. Anyone who objects should subsequently be tagged to house and feed such 'migrants' (in US lingo - illegals).
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday, that nine people had been either killed or wounded in the explosion of an explosive device in northern Baghdad.
The source said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “A bomb exploded, this morning, in Hamamiyat area in Taji District in northern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding seven others.”
The source, who asked anonymity, added, “Ambulances rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the dead bodies to the forensic medicine department, while the security force cordoned off the area of the incident and barred approaching it.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday, that four soldiers were either killed or wounded in a bomb blast targeted their patrol in southern Baghdad.
The source said in a brief statement received by IraqiNews.com, “A bomb exploded, this morning, on a patrol belonging to the Iraqi army in Latifiya area in southern Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding three others.”
The source, who asked anonymity, added, “A security force rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the dead body to the forensic medicine department, while cordoned off the area of the incident and prevented approaching it.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi police said on Sunday, that a civilian had been killed in a militant attack in southern the capital Baghdad.
The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This evening, unidentified militants opened fire against a civilian in the area of Hay al-Amel in southern Baghdad, resulting in his immediate death,” adding that, “A force from the police transferred the dead to the forensic medicine department, while opened an investigation into the incident.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi police said on Sunday, that a member of the Federal Police had been wounded in an armed attack south of Baghdad.
The source reported for IraqiNews.com, “This evening, unidentified gunmen driving a modern vehicle opened fire against a member of the Federal Police while passing in the area of al-Dawra in southern Baghdad, resulting in his injury,” noting that, “A security force transported the injured to a nearby hospital for treatment while opened an investigation into the incident to uncover the party that stands behind it.”
The Bursa Governor's Office has ordered that the only church in the city be vacated by Feb. 26, the Radikal daily reported.
Bursa is a large city in northwestern Anatolia, within the Marmara Region. It is the fourth most populous city in Turkey, about 1.8 million, and one of the most industrialized metropolitan centers in the country. So we're not talking about a country bumpkin town and governor...
According to the report, four Christian communities restored the church between 2002 and 2004, and it was opened for worship after a protocol with the municipality was signed. The pastor of the Protestant community, İsmail Kulaçoğlu, told Radikal that the protocol expired in 2015 and that the municipality had asked the communities to re-apply. Kulaçoğlu said they received an order to vacate the premises on Feb. 18 after they had re-applied.
The General Directorate for Foundations did not warn the communities beforehand and gave them eight days to leave the church, according to Kulaçoğlu.
The church serves as the only Christian house of worship in the city.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Four soldiers were killed in separate clashes with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the mainly Kurdish Southeast, the General Staff announced on Sunday.
According to a statement on its website, the General Staff said a soldier had died in a clash in the İdil, Şırnak province, on Sunday. Two others soldiers were killed and another injured in Diyarbakır's Sur district the same day.
One soldier who was injured on Feb. 18 after an explosion hit a military convoy in Lice, in Diyarbakır province, died early on Sunday, the statement said. An IED detonated remotely killed six soldiers and wounded one as they were traveling in a military vehicle in Lice.
The General Staff also announced on Sunday that 12 members of the terrorist PKK were killed in military operations conducted over the weekend.
"[A total of] 6 terrorists were killed in Sur and the rest in İdil as the number of [PKK] members that were neutralized during the recent clashes reached 219. In addition, three Kalashnikovs and 90 cartridges of ammunition were acquired and seven improvised explosives were disposed of," the stamement continued.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Major general Mohammad Moeen Faqir, commander of 215 Maiwand Army Corps said Sunday that Afghan National Army (ANA) troops have withdrawn from three bases in Musa Qala and Nawzad districts in a move to improve security situations in the volatile province.
The three bases evacuated by the Afghan army are Sher Ghazian and Roshan tower bases in Musa Qala and Dahni base in Nawzad district.
As Taliban insurgency in Helmand shows no sign of ending, officials from Helmand provincial council have warned the move will further deteriorate security in the area.
The Ministry of Defense however has yet to comment on the move and the number of troops who were deployed in these bases.
According to members of the provincial council, 400 ANA troops were deployed in each base.
The ANA allegedly torched all three bases after leaving them. Security forces also reportedly evacuated the area under tight security from air and ground.
Meanwhile, provincial governor Mirza Khan Rahimi has said that the Afghan army evacuated the bases in line with a comprehensive strategy.
"We have no concerns regarding this step, but we have plans in place to ensure security of vulnerable areas," said Mirza Khan Rahimi, governor of Helmand.
Helmand provincial council has criticized the ministry of defense for taking such a decision and warns of dire consequences.
"They [security forces] have left their military bases and outposts. Not only Musa Qala, but also Nawzad district is under the control of the Taliban," said Ataullah Afghan, secretary of Helmand provincial council.
Local officials believe that with the evacuation of ANA troops, security threats will likely rise in the area.
"It is going to be a difficult job for the government to retake the areas and ensure security," said Hayatullah Mayar, a member of the Helmand provincial council.
But MoD spokesman Dawlat Waziri said the troops have moved to defend people in other areas.
"They are getting prepared to defend people in areas under the threat of militants," said Waziri.
Musa Qala and Nawzad districts have long been under threat by insurgents.
Helmand provincial council says that the withdrawal of Afghan army soldiers could deteriorate security in the areas where troops withdraw from their bases.
[DAWN] THOUGH many amongst Pakistain's religious right prefer interpretations of faith anchored firmly in the past and shun most aspects of modernity as 'innovations', they have few qualms about using technology to their advantage.
For example, as noted in a recent report in this paper, the 'cyber team' of Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... seems to be quite an active concern. Young, tech-savvy men are at the forefront of an operation designed to transmit the message of a group with barely disguised links to religious militancy.
Volunteers stream footage from rallies, send out live tweets and update websites.
In fact, the team claims to be active in 45 cities and towns in Pakistain. Its members say they are countering hostile propaganda from "anti-Pakistain" elements, which, surprisingly, include the TTP as well as the turbanIslamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, along with 'secularists'.
Of course, this is a far cry from the ideology of old, according to which photography and film-making were both deemed unacceptable. But perhaps it is the ubiquitousness of technology, as well as the challenge posed by even more ferocious turban groups, that has caused JuD to change tack.
JuD is not the only turban group to embrace technology. A plethora of jihadi and sectarian outfits in Pakistain as well as internationally have used cyberspace as a recruiting ground and a propaganda outlet.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies
#1
It would be convenient to convince them that their phones need to automatically shut down 5 times a day for prayers, and NSA backups...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/22/2016 0:59
Comments ||
Top||
[DAWN] Suspected Islamist turbans stabbed and killed a Hindu priest at a temple in Bangladesh on Sunday, and shot and injured a devotee who went to his aid, police said.
Bangladesh has suffered a wave of turban violence in recent months, including a series of kabooms on mosques and Hindu temples.
Some of the attacks have been claimed by the turbanIslamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group, which has also said it is behind the killings of a Japanese citizen, an Italian aid worker and a policeman.
In Sunday's attack, five or six cycle of violence-borne attackers cut the throat of the priest, Jogeshwar Roy, 55, as he was organising prayers at the Deviganj temple near Panchagar, 494 km north of the capital, Dhaka, police said.
"We suspect that they might be members of the banned Islamist turban group Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB)," police official Humayun Kabir told Rooters.
JMB could not be reached for comment. No group has so far grabbed credit.
The motive for the killing was probably to create an unstable situation in the country and ultimately establish a caliphate, Kabir, the deputy director general of police in the area, added.
One devotee who tried to stop the priest's attackers was shot in the leg before the group fled, he said. Police have not yet made any arrests.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
[DAWN] Ten people have died in caste protests which triggered widespread arson and looting in a north Indian state, police said Sunday, as New Delhi faced a water crisis after mobs shut down a key supply.
Thousands of troops with shoot-on-sight orders were deployed on Saturday in Haryana state, a day after week-long protests turned violent with rioters setting fire to homes and railway stations and blocking highways.
Ten people have been killed and about 150 injured in the state since Friday when officers fired on rioters, Haryana police chief Yash Pal Singal told a presser, updating earlier estimates of five dead.
Television images showed mobs wielding sticks rampaging through the streets in Haryana state, setting fire to a local government minister's house and railway stations, damaging train tracks and blocking two key highways.
"There were festivities during the night across the district. Over a dozen buildings were set on fire by protesters, with incidents of looting of shops and ATMs at two places," an officer said on condition of anonymity.
A local police officer in Jhajjar, whose district borders that of Rohtak, earlier told AFP that five people were killed on Saturday "when the army opened fire on a mob".
A week-long protest by members of the state's dominant Jat caste, who are demanding quotas for government jobs and in education, turned violent on Friday as police fired on protesters.
India sets aside a proportion of jobs and educational places to people from so-called lower and backward castes -- measures intended to bring victims of the worst discrimination into the mainstream.
The Jats, a comparatively affluent group, want the same special allowances to put them on an equal footing with lower castes.
The Jats make up 29 per cent of Haryana's population and are traditionally a farming community. The latest protests echo caste violence that swept the western state of Gujarat ...where rioting seems to be a traditional passtime... in August last year, leaving several dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
[ALMANAR.LB] At least 50 Death Eaters of the so-called 'Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... group have been killed in the last 24 hours in an advance by Syrian army units east of Aleppo city, a monitor said Sunday.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[DAWN] NOTHING intrigues me more than the power of our security establishment. National interest is shorthand for the interests of an institution that reigns supreme. Let us consider the recent news that has gone largely unnoticed or has been deliberately ignored. Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another William H. Seward ... 's presidential campaign received a jolt when the State Department confirmed she had used her personal server to send some top secret emails.
Our present envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi apparently acted as an informal messenger between the US administration and former army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Why do I picture Rodney Dangerfield as a spokesman for the Trilateral commission?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/22/2016 10:54
Comments ||
Top||
[ARA News] HASAKAH – Just two days after Kurdish forces and allies recaptured the strategic city of Shaddadi in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province, militant fighters of the Islamic State (ISIS) returned to the fighting front in the vicinity of the city in a bid to regain positions.
Fierce clashes broke out on Sunday evening in Shaddadi’s suburbs between ISIS militants and Kurdish-Arab alliance of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), where casualties were reported on both sides.
“The clashes centered in the western suburb of Shaddadi, where ISIS militants launched a mortar attack on our headquarters,” a spokesman for the SDF told ARA News. “Subsequent to the terror attack, heavy clashes broke our between our fighters and ISIS militants.”
At least seven ISIS jihadis were killed and a dozen more wounded, while the SDF lost 11 fighters in Sunday’s clashes.
ISIS recaptured the village ’47’ in Shaddadi suburb. The city remained under the control of the Kurdish fighters and SDF allies.
“The radical group returned to the fighting front of Shaddadi in an attempt to regain control of the city. The Kurdish YPG and other units of the SDF are now trying to fortify Shaddadi against ISIS jihadis,” the official said. “After recapturing this strategic city, our forces won’t give it up at any cost. The main objective if to cleanse the entire Hasakah province from ISIS and prevent the group from returning.”
On Friday, the SDF leadership announced the liberation of Shaddadi city in Hasakah province from the Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants, after months of battles with the radical group. ISIS militants had evacuated their headquarters in Shaddadi under heavy bombardment by the Kurdish-Arab alliance of the SDF, where more than 50 ISIS fighters were reported dead. The progress came just hours after the SDF units, supported by an air cover from the U.S.-led coalition, cut off a main supply route for the ISIS radical group near Syria’s northeastern border with Iraq.
[ALMANAR.LB] Three blasts including one caused by a car bomb hit the Syrian capital of Damascus near the holy of Sayyed Zeinab (as) south of Syria's capital Damascus on Sunday, Al-Manar TV correspondent to the city reported.
The attack rocked the Al-Teen street leaving 50 martyrs and more than 200 others wounded.
Sayyeda Zeinab (as) area contains the grave of a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and is particularly revered as a pilgrimage site.
Near Damascus, a series of kabooms, including a boom-mobileing, destroyed the area of the Sayeda Zeinab Shiite shrine and killed as many as 83 people, according to the official SANA news agency. The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said it counted 62 dead from the attacks.
The jihadist Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... said it was behind the carnage. The group said two of its jacket wallahs carried out the Sayeda Zeinab bombings.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Ynet] The United States and its allies conducted 38 strikes against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... in Iraq and Syria on Saturday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement on Sunday.
In Syria, there were 18 strikes conducted using attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft. Nine strikes near Al Hasakah hit eight
separate Islamic State tactical units and destroyed fighting positions, buildings, and a vehicle used by the group. Other strikes hit targets near Al Hawl, Ar Raqqah, Dayr Az Zawr, and Manbij.
In Iraq, 20 strikes were conducted, with 10 strikes near djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... destroying nine assembly areas, a fighting position, two command and control nodes, and hitting other targets. Other targets were hit near Al Baghdadi, Ramadi, Sinjar and other cities.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
Another three soldiers have been killed in a stand-off with militants near Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, military officials say. Two other soldiers and a civilian were killed in violence on Saturday.
The stand-off began when up to four attackers ambushed a military convoy before taking refuge in a training institute.
A new exchange of gunfire began on Sunday morning as soldiers repeatedly tried to dislodge them. Part of the bullet-riddled institute was on fire on Sunday with militants still holed up inside as security forces came under prolonged gunfire.
Two army captains are among those killed on Sunday, military officials say.
About 100 students and staff were evacuated from the building on Saturday as it was encircled by troops. The security forces say they are preparing for a final assault on the institute and are reported to be using reconnaissance drones in preparation.
Police have described the militants as "suspected anti-India rebels".
The gunmen took refuge in the government-run Entrepreneurship Development Institute after attacking paramilitary forces in a convoy on the main road linking Srinagar to Jammu.
Intermittent exchanges of fire near the building could still be heard until late on Sunday afternoon. Eyewitnesses say as many as five gunmen could be holed up.
Witnesses say the gunmen told civilians in the complex to "save themselves" and move to a nearby hostel on the campus as they broke into the premises.
As the gunbattle raged, hundreds of nearby residents came out on the streets in a show of support for the rebels, throwing stones at government forces who fired tear gas to disperse them, said Central Reserve Police Force front man Bhavesh Chaudhary.
An police officer said on condition of anonymity that at least three protesters were maimed by tear gas canisters.
Police last week ordered residents to stay away from such gunbattles, after two students were killed during similar protests in the southern Kashmire valley.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/22/2016 13:11
Comments ||
Top||
#5
“By incorporating an absurd act into the realm of the Kashmiri quotidian, and subsequently normalizing that act,” he says, “I am trying to expose something that is far more absurd to the point of perversion.”
(IraqiNews.com) Basra – The Joint Operations Command announced on Sunday, that a policeman was fired by a missile by mistake at the main gate of Basra prison.
The command said in a press statement received by IraqiNews.com, “One of police elements was killed at the main gate of Basra Prison by a missile launched by mistake by one of the prison’s guards.”
The statement added, “All security and legal measures had been taken regarding this incident.”
A fire which broke out at a building planned to house migrants in eastern Germany was greeted with cheers from some onlookers, police say.
The fire in the town of Bautzen in the early hours of Sunday morning destroyed the roof of a former hotel, which was being converted into a migrant shelter. Police said some of the crowd tried to prevent firefighters from extinguishing the blaze, which destroyed the roof.
The premier of Saxony, Stanislaw Tillich, described them as "criminals".
Police suspect arson. The investigation includes detectives who normally deal with extremist crimes. No-one was hurt.
Only a few days ago, protesters in another Saxon town, Clausnitz, blocked the arrival of a bus taking migrants to accommodation. They shouted, "We are the people", the slogan of the 1989 peaceful uprising which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany.
Police in Bautzen said many in the crowd watched the fire and commented with "unashamed delight". Two drunken men were arrested after they refused to leave the scene.
The converted hotel was supposed to house 300 migrants.
In a further sign of anti-migrant sentiment, police in the Brandenburg region are investigating the distribution of leaflets urging "absolute resistance" against "foreigner invasion".
The leaflets, put through letterboxes in the town of Nauen, are the suspected work of neo-Nazis. They also give instructions on making firebombs and using explosives.
On Saturday, police defended their response to events in Clausnitz after two videos surfaced online. The first video showed 100 hostile demonstrators preventing a bus from off-loading migrants into their accommodation on Thursday. A second appeared to show police roughly manhandling a boy from the bus into the building.
The regional police chief said there were too few police to keep the protesters away, and three of those inside the bus had provoked the crowd.
Police chief Uwe Reissmann sparked further outrage when he gave the migrants themselves partial blame for the fraught scene, noting that some had filmed the mob with their mobile phones and made obscene gestures at them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Some can't use toilets...some build cooking fires inside.
At least 30 people were killed in four bomb attacks that hit a southern suburb of Damascus on Sunday, pro-government media outlets and a monitoring group said.
Syrian state TV put the toll at 30 people. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was at least 31 with dozens more injured. Al Manar TV, which is run by Damascus ally Lebanese Hezbollah, gave an initial count of 22 killed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan intelligence operatives thwarted a deadly attack plot by the Haqqani terrorist network in eastern Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province of Afghanistan by seizing two trucks loaded with 12,500 kgs of explosives.
The National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) said the explosives were loaded on two trucks and were confiscated by the intelligence operatives before they manage to use them in an attack.
A statement by NDS said the explosives were placed under woods and a suspect identified as Rafiq has been jugged Please don't kill me! in connection to the transport of the explosives.
No further details were given regarding the exact location where the trucks were seized and the possible target of the attack by the network.
Paktika is among the relatively volatile provinces in eastern Afghanistan where anti-government armed krazed killer groups are actively operating and often carry out insurgency activities.
At least six civilians, belonging to the same family, were killed in an kaboom triggered by roadside kaboom in this province recently.
The Haqqani terrorist network was found in the late 1970s by Jalaluddin Haqqani ...founder and still titular head of the Haqqani Network. Jalaluddin is old and tough and very crafty, one of the few Pashtun warlords who was worth spit... and is accused of staging numerous cross-border attacks from their base in North Wazoo, including the 19-hour siege at the US Embassy in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... in September 2011.
The network is allied with al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban and cooperates with other terrorist organizations in the region and was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization on September 7, 2012 by the US Department of State.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Haqqani Network
#1
Fourteen freaking tons. There's got to be more in the supply chain and it's not coming in by moped.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
02/22/2016 2:16
Comments ||
Top||
#2
I remember a time not so very long ago when the 'Haqqani Network' was thought to be regional moderate and not part of the terrorist problem in AFG. For those who felt 'Islamic Moderation' an Obama regime myth, the Haqqani's were simply another group of Mooslim butchers.
[DAWN] Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rasheed has said that the government has lodged the FIR in the Pathankot airbase attack after a committee comprising representatives of national security institutions recommended to do so.
On Friday, the Counter-Terrorism Department of Punjab police lodged an FIR against four alleged attackers with a police station in Gujranwala under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act.
Senator Rasheed said the committee that made the recommendation for the FIR had been constituted soon after the attack on the Indian Air Force base. He was speaking at a condolence reference for Dr Ahsan Akhtar Naz before talking to journalists at the Punjabi Institute of Language and Culture on Saturday.
“Islamabad acted upon the committee’s recommendation to ensure that the world does not point a finger at Pakistan and instead understand that it’s fighting against all kinds of terrorism within and outside the country,” he said. That's some pretty good motions they're going through.
The minister said the accountability process must continue but it must not hinder the development taking place in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies
A remote-controlled land-mine blast ripped through a convoy of military vehicles belonging to the African Union troops outside the southern port town of Marko. A military vehicle destroyed in roadside bomb that went off as AMISOM convoy passing on a street in Bufow village, about 7 Km away from Marko town, capital of Lower Shabelle region.
The bomb blast followed by heavy exchange of gunfire between armed Al shabaab fighters and AMISOM soldiers. The casualty figures of the attack is yet uncertain.
On the other hand, business activities in Marko town came to standstill after several commercial centers, including money transfer companies were robbed by gunmen dressed in military uniforms.
Could be Shaboobs in military uniforms, or AU troops in military uniforms...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
Follow-up to Fred's post of 2/20.
"Radioactive material that went missing in Iraq has been found dumped near a petrol station in the southern town of Zubair, officials said on Sunday, ending speculation it could be acquired by Islamic State and used as a weapon.
The officials told Reuters the material, stored in a protective case the size of a laptop computer, was undamaged and there were no concerns about radiation.
Reuters reported last week that Iraq had been searching for the material since it was stolen in November from a storage facility belonging to U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford near the southern city of Basra."
#1
I once knew a guy who worked for DoE (energy). He was the guy that would get the call when some nutcase would phone the FBI claiming that they built a nuclear bomb.
He said that any such bomb builder would die from radiation sickness as the necessary handling equipment was not easily obtainable.
So please, steal the nuclear material.~
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/22/2016 10:18
Comments ||
Top||
Thousands of people surrounded Japan's parliament on Sunday to protest against government plans to relocate a U.S. military base on Okinawa island, local media reported.
Guam is looking pretty good about now...
Kyodo news agency said some 28,000 protesters had ringed parliament house in central Tokyo, holding hands and shouting: "Don't build the base". Hundreds more held similar protests across the country, it also reported.
Many residents of Okinawa there resent the fact that it hosts tens of thousands of U.S. troops and military. The United States and Japan agreed in 1996 to relocate the base, currently in a heavily populated area, to a new site in Henoko, but many residents of the island have rejected the proposal and want the base moved altogether. Many residents say they associate U.S. bases with noise, pollution and crime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sayonara. You deal with the Chinese expansionism on your own. Wait till you host thousands of Chinese troops and military on Okinawa.
#4
...In fairness, I'd point out that this protest took place some distance from Okinawa, and I doubt there were many native Okinawans in said protest. Most Okinawans know exactly what would happen if the US bailed, and so does the Japanese Government.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/22/2016 5:04
Comments ||
Top||
#7
28,000 is a good number. Perhaps the Japanese government should put it to a vote in Okinawa and have them put their opinion down in black and white. Hopefully that'll shut folks up about US imperialism or signal that it's time for the US to step back.
#8
If Uncle Sam withdrew from every base that was the subject of organized protests, NATO would have been disbanded a long time ago. Japan is a nation of over 100m people. 28K protestors are a drop in the ocean.
#10
It's not the protestors per se. It's the local politicians who play it safe by saying nothing or issuing 'soothing' words. I've yet to hear a major leader say publicly - "Are you out of your f*****g minds?"
Yet they expect us to die for their defense. Sorry, but there's a lot of us who are tired of that old game.
QUETTA: Frontier Corps (FC) foiled a bid and defused 15 kilogrammes of improvised explosive devices (IED) on Chithar Road, area of Nasirabad district on Sunday.
According to FC spokesman, acting on a tip off, FC personnel along with bomb disposal squad team reached the site and defused 15 kilogrammes of IED that were planted near Achanak hotal for sabotage activities by unknown men. FC personnel cordoned off the entire area and started efforts to trace out the suspects.
[Al Arabiya] The Specialized Criminal Court of Riyadh on Sunday presented a list of accusations prepared by the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution (BIP) against 32 people accused of spying for Iranian Intelligence.
The accused were Saudis from al-Qatif Region in Eastern Saudi Arabia along with two others, an Iranian and an Afghan.
The prosecution has already completed the list of charges against the accused.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
FYI GROONG > [Fars News Agency] SOURCES: US [+ ME or Regional Allies] PLOTTING TO TAKE CONTROL OF BARB AL-MANDEB [Waterway], UAE TO TAKE CONTROL OF SOCOTRA ISLANDS.
Via deposed Yemeni President Hadi alleged secret agreement wid UAE, the KSA to to allegedly take control of Northern Yemen, UAE to get control of Eastern Yemen.
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – The Federal Police Leadership announced on Sunday, that 40 fighters of the so-called ISIS were killed during their attack on Baiji north of Tikrit (170 km north of Baghdad).
The Federal Police Captain Raed Shakir Jawdat said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “Today, a force from the Federal Police was able to repel ISIS suicide attack on Km35 area west of Ramadi, killing at least five suicide bombers and destructing their vehicles,” noting that, “The bomb squad dismantled 11 explosive devices and three explosive belts in the same area, as well as Leine area north of Samarra (40 km south of Tikrit).”
Jawdat added, “The Federal Police forces shelled ISIS headquarters in al-Fatha area north of Baiji with Krad missiles, killing 35 elements belonging to ISIS and destructing four vehicles.”
Noteworthy the joint forces managed to free the city of Tikrit in 31st March 2015, while continued to their advance to expel ISIS from other areas in the province.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[IsraelTimes] Unmanned aerial vehicles were hidden in vehicle carrying toys, were intended for spying, Defense Ministry says
Israeli security guards at the Kerem Shalom border crossing into the southern Gazoo Strip and Shin Bet operatives recently foiled an attempt to smuggle drones into the Paleostinian enclave, the Defense Ministry announced Sunday.
During a search of an Israeli vehicle carrying toys, security guards found several drones of different sizes and types, all of which were equipped with quality cameras. Additional smuggling attempts of drones have been foiled by the Shin Bet in recent weeks.
The drones were apparently set to be used for spying on Israeli targets, the Defense Ministry said.
Israeli authorities launched an investigation into the smuggling attempts.
In March, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, drones reportedly flew out of the Gazoo Strip and into Egyptian airspace above the Sinai Peninsula several times as the Egyptian army stood by helpless to prevent the incursions. Egyptian radar picked up three drones flying out of the southern Gazoo Strip on numerous occasions, the Egyptian Al Osboa newspaper reported. The unmanned aerial vehicles penetrated as far as El Arish and Sheikh Zuweid, some 50 kilometers from the Egypt-Gazoo border.
Border forces opened fire on the drones but couldn't hit them because they were flying at an altitude of 750 meters (2,250 feet), the report said. Under the terms of the 1979 peace deal with Israel, Egypt is not allowed to station any anti-aircraft weapons in the Sinai region.
In December 2014, Hamas's military wing launched a locally manufactured drone during a Gazoo City march in honor of the founding of the group, prompting the Israel Air Force to summon jets to the area, but no shots were fired at the unmanned aircraft.
During the 2014 war in Gazoo, as IDF forces battled Hamas in the Strip, Hamas launched two drones that were both blasted out of the sky by IAF-launched Patriot missiles soon after they crossed into Israel.
[Mindanao Examiner] A grenade explosion late Sunday has killed at least two people and wounded more than a dozen others in Sultan Kudarat province in southern Philippines. Two grenades were tossed into a crowd, but only one exploded. The blast wounded at least 14 people.
The attack coincided with the town's Catholic feast. The incident occurred as soldiers have been battling Moro Islamic Liberation Front militants in the town of Butig in Lanao del Sur province.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Scores of Afghan refugees have been stranded along the Macedonia and Greece border after Macedonia closed its southern border with Greece to Afghan migrants on Sunday, it has been reported.
According to the reports, the Macedonian authorities are only allowing the Iraqi and Syrian migrants to cross the border.
Macedonian police spokeswoman Natalija Spirova Kordikj told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, "The Serbian side has stopped the entrance for Afghan refugees."
Kordikj further added that there is no official explanation from the Serbian side for the move.
Hundreds of Afghans are leaving the country and are mainly heading towards Europe amid deteriorating security situation in the country, often risking their lives by passing through dangerous routes, specifically the Iranian territory and the Turkish coast.
Several Afghans have bit the dust while crossing the border through Iran and their boats capsized in the Turksih waters.
An Afghan photo journalist died along with his family members after his boat capsized in the Turkish coast recently.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – A security source in Kirkuk province said on Sunday, that a civilian was killed and five others were wounded in a bomb blast that targeted the families fleeing from ISIS south of the province.
The source said in a brief statement received by IraqiNews.com, “This afternoon, an explosive device that was emplaced by ISIS elements in the southern axis of Kirkuk exploded during the escape of a family that was attempting to access to the Peshmerga sites, resulting in the death of one civilian and wounding five of his family [members].”
The source, who requested anonymity, added: “A force from the Peshmerga evacuated the dead body to the forensic medicine department and the injured to a nearby hospital.”
Posted by: badanov ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[ALMANAR.LB] Three journalists working for Turkish state-run news agency Anatolia were abducted Sunday by members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey, the agency said.
Anatolia said that the incident occurred in Nusaybin in Mardin province, where the security forces have been conducting a vast operation aimed at flushing PKK forces out of the area.
The agency is Turkey's largest and has a large network of journalists in Turkey and abroad.
The border town of Nusaybin has been a hotspot in the fighting that flared up again between Turkish forces and the PKK after a fragile two-and-a-half year truce fell apart in July.
In recent days Turkey has taken its fight against Kurdish fighters across the border into Syria, where it has been bombarding a Kurdish-led coalition that has been making territorial gains within striking distance of Turkey.
Turkey, which fears the creation of a Kurdish stronghold along its border with Syria, insists it is acting in "legitimate defense".
Three journalists from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's state-run Anadolu Agency were freed on Sunday after being kidnapped and held for 48 hours by members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the news agency said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The African Union Mission in Somalia may have to concentrate more on air strikes than ground attacks in its war against Al-Shabaab militants to minimise expenses after one of its main donors reduced funding. The European Union said it reduced the budget to the mission because of financial constraints.
On Thursday, AU officials met with Amisom partners in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to see how to avoid “duplication and waste” of functions in Somalia. When the question of financing came up, the EU said its budget drop had been forced by realities. The partners included representatives from the EU, the UK, France, the US, China and the United Nations.
The EU has problems closer to home...
But even with this challenge, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui said Kenya and Ethiopia accepted to use their aircraft to increase attacks against the terrorists.
“Helicopters offered by Ethiopia and Kenya to Amisom will the be game-changer; details are currently being finalised with the UN,” the Algerian diplomat said on Thursday.
Under the 2012 UN Security Council Resolution 2036, Amisom can have up to three attack helicopters, usually from troop-contributing countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda or Burundi. The UN then recompenses every country based on equipment used.
At U.N. rates, a sweet deal...
However, EU ambassador to the AU Gary Quince told the Nation that he did not expect the budget cut to affect Amisom operations even as he added that the union recommended alternative financing for the mission.
“We encourage the AU to identify other sources of funding to fill the gap. These are other international partners and AU member states,” Quince said on Friday. As has been a tradition since 2007, EU supports Amisom — to which KDF belongs — through the African Peace Facility.
The Somalia mission meant to stabilise the government in Mogadishu and fight extremists has received €1.1 billion covering allowances for the 22,000 troops, pay for the police component, international and local civilian staff as well as operational costs of the mission’s civilian office in Nairobi.
But APF, established in 2003 to respond to an African request to support its peace and security agenda, has also been involved in security missions in other parts of the continent such as the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Somalia and the Comoros.
“It (reduction in funding) is caused by the financial constraints on the EU African Peace Facility which funds Amisom and reflects the huge demands placed upon it to support African peace and security efforts,” the EU diplomat said. “For example, since 2007 to the end 2015, EU provided €1.1 billion (Sh123.2 billion) to Amisom and this has depleted funding.”
From January 2016, the EU reduced financial contribution to Amisom by 20 per cent. It means that the EU will give €20 million (Sh224 million) every month up to June. Amisom requires about $300 million (Sh30 billion) a month.
Its soldiers are paid a mission allowance of $1,028 (Sh103,828) a month with no other allowances. For a KDF soldier, the government deducts an administration fee of $200 (Sh20,200), meaning every serviceman gets $828 (Sh83,628).
And the government leaders get a sweet pot of cash with virtually no controls...
Last year, EU signed a deal with AU worth €165 million for July to December 2015 to cover troop allowances, death and disability compensation for military and police personnel, international and local civilian staff salaries, operational costs of Amisom, maintenance, running costs and equipment for the Al-Jazeera Training camp in Mogadishu and Quick Impact Projects.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
#1
Contract stability and peace making forces in Africa, same predictable 'Outcomes' as the last 60 years I'd reckon. Buttering the ant hill, not really necessary. They'll do quite well if simply left alone.
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – A local source in Nineveh Province revealed on Saturday, that the coalition aviation shelled one of the largest banks of the so-called ISIS in the province, while indicated that more than 64 ISIS members were either killed or wounded by over 30 air strikes on the organization’s headquarters in the right and left coasts.
The source said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “This evening, international coalition aviation shelled ISIS headquarters in al-Gamea neighborhood, Mosul University building, Arab neighborhood, in addition to two headquarters in the central markets building near Baghdad garage.”
The source added on condition of anonymity, “The primary number of casualties among ISIS members reached more than 40 dead including Arab and foreign nationalities and 24 wounded, based on accurate intelligence information.”
“The shelled headquarters included one of the banks in in the left bank in Mosul that was used by ISIS to as an alternative headquarters to pay the salaries of its members,” the source continued.
[Rudaw] Warplanes from the US-led coalition carried out 20 Arclight airstrikes Saturday night against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... positions and shelters inside the group's stronghold of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , a source from the Iraqi Defense Ministry told Rudaw.
Five different locations in Mosul were targeted by the warplanes including "Mosul railway line, the presidential palace, Wadi Agibian neighboorhood as well as two bomb manufacturing facilities," said the source.
He continued: "The Iraqi army has warned Mosul residents avoid ISIS shelters and positions as warplanes will continue shelling the areas."
Baghdad has begun preparations to launch a massive battle against ISIS faceless myrmidons in coordination with the Kurdistan Region and the United States-led coalition.
Two separate Iraqi army brigades are based in the town of Makhmour, southeast of djinn-infested Mosul, as part of the preparations underway for the offensive.
On February 9, a military brigade from the Nineveh Operation Command arrived in the Makhmour region and on February 16 another Iraqi army brigade from the 15th division of the Iraqi Army, consisting of 1000 soldiers and 168 military vehicles, arrived.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[ALMANAR.LB] Terrorist twin kabooms rocked on Sunday the Syrian province of Homs killing at least 34 people, according to state-run SANA news agency citing Homs governor Talal al-Barazi.
Barazi told SANA in a statement that snuffies blew up successively two cars packed with huge amounts of explosives early this morning near the entrance of al-Arman neighborhood in the main al-Siteen Street in Homs city.
Initial information referred to the death of 14 people, in addition to 39 injured. Many of the latter have shuffled off the mortal coil.
"The repeated terrorist attacks in Homs target the strong internal front that is standing by the side of the Syrian army making victories on various fronts," said the Governor, calling upon the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Security Council, the UN Secretary General and the countries that claim to be fighting terrorism to condemn this new attack.
SANA news hound in Homs said the terrorist bombings caused massive material damage to the nearby houses and the dozens of public and private buses parked at the bus station.
On January 26th, 19 people were killed and many others were maimed in two terrorist attacks that hit al-Zahraa neighborhood in Homs city.
Double boom-mobileings killed at least 57 people and maimed dozens in the Al-Zahraa district of the central city of Homs, the monitor said, while Syria's Foreign Ministry gave a corpse count of 46.
The jihadist Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... said it was behind the carnage.
Al-Zahraa -- whose residents are mostly from the same Alawite sect as Syria's ruling clan and strongman Bashir al-Assad -- has been regularly targeted.
In an online statement, IS said two jihadists drove car bombs into crowds of residents in Homs.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Saturday called on the United States to give unconditional support in the fight against Syrian Kurdish militants, illustrating growing tension between Ankara and Washington over policy in northern Syria.
Davutoğlu also said Turkey would tighten security across the country, especially the capital, after a car laden with explosives was detonated near military buses in Ankara last Wednesday, killing 28 people. Turkey says the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which the United States is backing in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria, was involved in the bombing, in league with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Washington, which does not consider the YPG a terrorist organization, has said it is not in a position to confirm or deny Ankara's charge the militia was behind the bombing.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#5
Turkey s ego sure has gotten large here lately. Who the hell are they to demand anything. I think the kurds deserve more respect than any other group in the middle east, besides the Israelis.
Posted by: chris ||
02/22/2016 8:54
Comments ||
Top||
TANDO ALLAH YAR: At least seven terrorists of a banned outfit were arrested during a crackdown on Sunday evening.
The sensitive agencies personnel responding to an intelligence tip-off regarding presence of militants conducted a search operation in Pak Colony Tando Allah Yar.
During the operation, the sensitive agencies personnel arrested seven members of a banned organisation. Sources said that the detainees were planning a terrorist attack and they were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – The Command of al-Hashed al-Shaabi in Anbar Province announced on Sunday the arrival of military reinforcements from Baghdad in the outskirts of the city of Fallujah (62 km west of Baghdad) in preparation to storm the city, while emphasized that the troops are waiting to start the battle of liberation.
Jumaili said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The combat and military forces began to deploy its troops and snipers on the front berms, as well as deploying tanks, armor and artillery units,” pointing out that, “These forces are waiting for the final orders to start the liberation battle of Fallujah from the so-called ISIS.”
Jumaili added, “The security forces from the army, police and tribal fighters worked on establishing a berm in the regions of al-Kayfiya and Shihabi that extends to seven kilometers, in order to separate and isolate ISIS areas in al-Karma east of Fallujah.”
“The security forces advanced into a depth of 5 km in the center of al-Karma District, and deployed security detachments in those areas,” Jumaili continued.
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – A source in Anbar Operations Command announced on Sunday, that seven leaders belonging to the so-called ISIS were killed in an aerial bombardment carried out by the international coalition aviation on ISIS gathering in eastern Ramadi (110 km west of Baghdad).
The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Today the international coalition aviation shelled a gathering of ISIS leaders in Khalidiya Island (20 km east of Ramadi), killing seven leaders including two leaders called Ibrahim Theyabi and Shihab al-Asafi.”
The source added on condition of anonymity, “The international coalition bombardment also resulted in the destruction of three vehicles belonging to ISIS,” pointing out that, “ISIS is trying to restructure its troops in Khalidiya Island and transport weapons and missiles to them across the Euphrates River.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Khalidiya Council in Anbar Province announced on Sunday, that 17 members of the so-called ISIS were killed during the cleansing battles in northern Ramadi (110 km west of Baghdad), while emphasized the destruction of a number of ISIS vehicles during the operation.
The Head of the Council Ali Dawood said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The security forces carried out, at noon today, a military operation to cleanse Albu Obaid area (19 km north of Ramadi) from the ISIS control, killing 17 members belonging to ISIS and destructing a number of vehicles equipped by machine guns, as well as a rocket launcher.”
Dawood added, “The security forces are advancing in the liberation battles of Albu Obaid region in northern Ramadi, backed by the international coalition aviation that played a notable role in destructing ISIS strongholds and gatherings,” pointing out that, “The next few hours will witness the liberation of Albu Obaid area.”
[AnNahar] Clashes between Iraqi tribesmen and the Islamic State group in Fallujah have halted after the jihadists detained dozens of residents of the city west of Baghdad, officials said Sunday. The fighting between the Sunni Arab tribesmen and IS in Fallujah, one of two cities it still holds in Iraq, challenges the jihadists' ability to maintain control.
But officials said tribesmen were running short of supplies on Saturday, and IS, which is known for its extreme violence, has already executed a large number of opponents elsewhere in Anbar province.
Tribesmen in three areas of Fallujah "withdrew from the clashes (with IS), fearing for the fate of the detainees", an army lieutenant colonel told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The clashes stopped because of the imbalance of power and fear that the detainees would be executed," said Issa Sayir who was appointed by the Anbar governor to administer the Fallujah area. Sayir said IS was likely to execute Fallujah residents for their alleged "cooperation with the security forces."
Raja Barakat, a member of the provincial council in Anbar, where Fallujah is located, said: "We now fear that the (IS) organization will carry out a massacre in the city."
Sayir estimated the number of detainees at around 60, while the lieutenant colonel said the figure was over 110 and a tribal leader said more than 100.
Sheikh Majeed al-Juraisi, a leader in one of the tribes fighting the jihadists in Fallujah, said IS had seized the residents over the previous two days.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] For all the conflicts in the world in which Washington is at odds with Moscow, the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan has been one area where the B.O. regime's interests and Russia's concerns coincide, The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reports. Perhaps the Russians are reacting to failing quarterly financial reports and trailing dividend stream reductions.
Disputes over the wars in Ukraine and Syria had not stopped the governments from cooperating on counter-narcotics and securing military supply lines.
But after initial success on those fronts, Russia now seems to be disengaging with both the United States and the American-backed Afghan government.
On an old Cold War battlefield where Russia fought a nearly decade-long war against United States-supplied fighters, Moscow has a new strategy: the cold shoulder.
"We won't join the useless events, and we've already told the Americans," President Vladimir V. Putin's envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir N. Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... ov, told Russian state news media this month. Russia, he said, would sit out any talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government in Kabul, backed by the United States, Pakistain and China.
"Honestly speaking, we're already tired of joining anything Washington starts," Mr. Kabulov said. The Kremlin, he added, "has no desire to participate in what the Americans organize 'on the fly' just for their own pre-election interests and where they give us the role of extras on the set."
The government of Mr. Putin has instead decided to address on its own what it sees as the immediate security threat from the chaos in Afghanistan and the emergence there of murderous Moslems other than the Taliban, especially those from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... Russia has reinforced its largest foreign military base in Tajikistan, along the border with Afghanistan, and the Russian military has held regular exercises with Tajik soldiers. The Kremlin has committed $1.2 billion to train and equip the Tajik Army, forming a new bulwark in Central Asia north of Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
The Libyan National Army (LNA) appears to have inflicted a significant defeat on Islamist militants in Ajdabiya.
Residents confirm LNA claims that it now controls the town. One told the Libya Herald that the areas around Istanbul Street and the industrial estate to the south of it, both previously controlled by the militants, was today firmly in LNA hands.
“All Ajdabiya is free,” he declared. The militants from the Ajdabiya Revolutionaries Shoura Council (ARSC), of which Ansar Al-Sharia is a part, had pulled out the town after heavy fighting, he explained, stating that three LNA soldiers had died in the fighting and 29 had been wounded.
There were no figures for ARSC casualties.
Many of those fighting with the LNA were, the resident claimed, local Salafists rather than than the regular army. In December local Salafist fighters supporting the LNA were also involved in fierce clashes with the ARSC.
This is not, however, the first time that militants have pulled out of the Istanbul area.
They held it early last summer until in June, following the US air attack on a farm outside Ajdabiya, they were driven out of the town, again by LNA units. Bug they then returned.
The industrial estate has been a stronghold for the militants who have also included the pro-Islamic State United Ajdabiya Shoura Council, a breakaway from the ARSC. In November, LNA planes bombed it, killing three Egyptian workers and a militiamen.
Nonetheless, today’s action in Ajdabiya, in conjunction with the LNA advances in Benghazi, represent a serious blow to the militants.
Military forces loyal to Libya's eastern government said on Sunday they had pushed back Islamist fighters in several areas of Benghazi, seizing the strategic port of Marisa.
The Libyan National Army said it had also taken control of the town of Ajdabiya, about 150 km (90 miles) south of Benghazi, another city where it has been battling Islamist groups.
Munthir al-Khartoush, a front man for the army's Battalion 309, said that as well as Marisa port, the army had taken control of the nearby neighbourhood of Al-Halis, and had advanced in the district of Boatni, which also saw heavy fighting on Saturday.
At least three soldiers and 15 Islamist fighters were killed in Sunday's festivities, the military said.
Marisa would be a significant gain for the army as the groups it has been fighting have been receiving weapons deliveries through the port.
"We have completely cut off the supplies coming to the front line for the Islamist groups in the west of Benghazi by capturing Marisa Port," Khartoush said.
A hospital source in Ajdabiya said 65 people had been killed and 140 maimed in fighting there over the past two months.
[Ynet] 17-year-old girl tossed in the slammer Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! at Tapuach Junction with knife, admits to planning attack; 14-year-old arrested near Bani Naim after trying to stab soldiers; another attacker in Tapuach Junction shot and killed while attempting stabbing attack; none hurt on Israeli side.
Israeli security forces stopped three terror attacks on Sunday morning. No Israeli troops were hurt in any of the incidents.
Around 8:30am, a 17-year-old Paleostinian girl arrived at the Tapuach Junction with a knife in her possession. She was stopped by troops stationed at the roadbloack.
In initial questioning, the girl admitted that she planned to commit an attack after watching inciting videos on social media. The Kutzra resident was arrested and taken for further questioning.
Three hours later, a 14-year-old Paleostinian boy from the village of Bani Naim, close to Hebron, tried to open the door of an army vehicle and stab one of the soldiers inside. The troops overpowered and handcuffed him without opening fire.
Several minutes later, another attacker tried to stab soldiers near the Tapuach Junction. He was shot and seriously maimed, and later succumbed to his wounds.
On Saturday night, a stabbing attack was thwarted near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem - the ninth attack there over the past three weeks.
#1
The present Israeli response is often to take down the house of the attacker.
However, the attacker is often a naive youngster inveigled into attacking by incitement.
A better approach, in my opinion, is to trace the inciters and take down their houses.
Yelling fire in a crowded theater is not protected free speech. Neither is extolling murderous violence to immature minds, that results in actual attempts at murder.
[Inquirer] Two more police officers have been murdered in as many weeks in an ambush by the communist New People's Army. The attack occurred on Thursday evening in Candoni, Negros Occidental.
Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, "The two fallen agents of the law had just performed a routine police assistance function to a stabbing victim when they themselves were treacherously attacked. They will be accorded appropriate funeral honors befitting their heroism and service."
"The perpetrators of this action will be hunted down and will be made to pay for their crime," Mayor added.
The Negros Occidental attack happened less than a week after an NPA ambush on February 16 in Baggao, Cagayan, in which six policemen died when the militants attacked them using grenade launchers.
QUETTA: Frontier Corps (FC) held eight alleged militants from Panjgur and sui area of Balochistan on Sunday.
According to FC spokesman, acting on a tip off, FC personnel carried out a search operation in Chitkan area of Panjgur district and apprehended four alleged militants.
Meanwhile, FC personnel also held four alleged militants from Kathan Goth near Sui area of Dera Bugti in a search operation. Further investigation is underway.
GWADAR: The building of the district education office was slightly damaged in a grenade attack here on Saturday. No one was injured in the attack.
Police said that unidentified people hurled the hand grenade inside the building and fled. It exploded in the courtyard, smashing windowpanes of the building and damaging a bus parked there.
Police official Aslam Bangulazai said that windowpanes of some nearby building were also smashed.
The district education office is located near to the office of the deputy commissioner of Gwadar, Police Line and the Gwadar police station.
After the attack, security launched a search operation in the area and took some suspects into custody for interrogation.
The United States rejected a North Korean proposal to discuss a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War because it did not address denuclearization on the peninsula, the State Department said on Sunday.
The Guardian writes as if this is a problem...
Spokesman John Kirby made the comment in response to a Wall Street Journal report that the White House secretly agreed to peace talks just before Pyongyang’s latest nuclear bomb test. The newspaper, citing US officials familiar with the events, said the Obama administration dropped its condition that Pyongyang take steps to curtail its nuclear arsenal before any peace talks, instead calling for North Korea’s atomic weapons program to be just one part of the discussion.
That sounds like Obama the Appeaser alright...
Pyongyang declined the proposal, and its 6 January nuclear test ended the diplomatic plans, the newspaper reported.
Pudgy apparently is a Paleostinian deep down at heart: he never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity...
“To be clear, it was the North Koreans who proposed discussing a peace treaty,” Kirby said in an emailed statement.
“We carefully considered their proposal, and made clear that denuclearization had to be part of any such discussion. The North rejected our response,” he said.
Part of, not a pre-condition. You see, the Norks did get State to move...
“Our response to the NK proposal was consistent with our longstanding focus on denuclearization.“
North Korea said on 6 January it had tested a nuclear device it claimed was a hydrogen bomb, provoking condemnation from its neighbors and the US. Weeks later, it launched a long-range rocket carrying what it called a satellite, prompting renewed criticism.
On 16 January, Pyongyang had demanded the conclusion of a peace treaty with the US and a halt to US military exercises with South Korea to end its nuclear tests.
But US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said then that Pyongyang needed to demonstrate by its actions that it was serious about denuclearization before any dialogues could start.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/22/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
After that deal with Iran you have to wonder what was Pudgy thinking?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
North Korean state media on Sunday confirmed the country has a new military chief following earlier reports in Seoul that the former holder of the post had been executed.
House Republicans urging a steep increase in the Pentagon's budget have received $10 million in campaign contributions over the course of their congressional careers from defense contractors that would benefit from higher levels of military spending.
Army veteran Dennis Magnasco spent two days trying to get a doctor's appointment at his VA clinic in Bedford, Massachusetts, but he couldn't get through to anyone on the phone. So he and his boss, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), came up with another idea: filming.
Russia will ask permission on Monday to start flying surveillance planes equipped with high-powered digital cameras amid warnings from US intelligence and military officials that such overflights help Moscow collect intelligence on the US.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] An influential political and religious figure Pir Syed Ahmad Gilani has been appointed as the new Chief of the Afghan High Peace Council.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The shadow governor of Taliban for Chahardara District of northern Kundoz province has been 
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Two Talibs have been killed in a 
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A U.S. Air Force drone has crashed in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan without causing any injuries, it has been reported.
The ANC has brought nothing but economic misery since the end of so-called Apartheid. If you sense a connection between power regimes blaming 'imperialist change agents' in South Africa and the Obama administration continually blaming economic woes on the republicans here at home, you'd be correct. The failure of communism must never be blamed on it's administrators, only it's adversaries. 
President Evo Morales of Bolivia has lost a referendum to allow him to stand for a fourth term in office, exit polls suggest. One poll suggests 52.3% voted against the proposal to amend the constitution, while another suggests it was 51%.
The Bursa Governor's Office has ordered that the only church in the city be vacated by Feb. 26, the Radikal daily reported.
[DAWN] Suspected Islamist 
[ALMANAR.LB] At least 50 
Hillary Clinton
Another three soldiers have been killed in a stand-off with militants near Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, military officials say. Two other soldiers and a civilian were killed in violence on Saturday.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan intelligence operatives thwarted a deadly attack plot by the Haqqani terrorist network in eastern 
Wazoo
[Mindanao Examiner] A grenade explosion late Sunday has killed at least two people and wounded more than a dozen others in Sultan Kudarat province in southern Philippines. Two grenades were tossed into a crowd, but only one exploded. The blast wounded at least 14 people.
TANDO ALLAH YAR: At least seven terrorists of a banned outfit were arrested during a crackdown on Sunday evening. 
The Libyan National Army (LNA) appears to have inflicted a significant defeat on Islamist militants in Ajdabiya.
[Inquirer] Two more police officers have been murdered in as many weeks in an ambush by the communist New People's Army. The attack occurred on Thursday evening in Candoni, Negros Occidental.
QUETTA: Frontier Corps (FC) held eight alleged militants from Panjgur and sui area of Balochistan on Sunday. 
GWADAR: The building of the district education office was slightly damaged in a grenade attack here on Saturday. No one was injured in the attack.
